giovedì 3 luglio 2014

Il Diario di Chiara

Abandoned at the age of two months and taken in by the Ospedale della Pietà, Chiara (or Chiaretta) rose – within that enclosed charitable institution in Venice – to become one of the leading European violinists of the middle of the 18th century.

No stranger to such acclaim himself from two and a half centuries later, Fabio Biondi, on his first release for Glossa, has devised a programme drawing on the personal diary of this remarkable musician – taught by Antonio Vivaldi, and later a virtuoso soloist on the violin as well as the viola d’amore – of concertos and sinfonias by composers who, like the prete rosso, taught at the Pietà: Porta, Porpora, Martinelli, Latilla, Perotti and Bernasconi are all musicians whose compositions charm and delight as much today as they will have done in the time of Chiara.

Along with this inspired vision-in-sound of the 18th century musical world of the Ospedale comes a half-hour long DVD dramatization; CD and DVD admirably reflect both the virtuosic skills demanded of the instrumental soloists of the day and the revolution in musical tastes (inside the Pietà as well as outside it), as the Baroque passed to Classicism via the galant style.

Europa Galante is insouciant, reminding us that the gallant is an attitude out of which grew a musical style; these players command both. The solo performances are incandescent, veering between searing lyricism and precocious virtuosity ... Chiara's music, and the players performances capture the heart. --Berta Joncus, BBC Music Magazine June 2014 [5 stars]

'...impeccably played … one which all lovers of the Italian Baroque should not miss.' --Ian Graham-Jones, Early Music Review April 2014